What Are Quilters Blogging About Today?

Warmer days have brought out some of the flowers on our property. The daffodils are just coming out, but I do not think their bloom production will be good this year. I forgot to fertilize them last fall, and they don’t have enough phosphorus stored in the bulbs. The largest bed usually has a lot more flowers.

But the ones that are blooming in other areas are lovely.

I love the pale yellow cups on the creamy white petals.

Another patch has all dark yellow cups on lighter yellow petals. The funny thing is that they are all facing ...

Time for a Sunday Chat, so get a cuppa and settle in for a long and picture heavy post. I have so many things to share today as these past couple of weeks have been busy! The bird feeder has been very active lately with really cold nights. My Sweet Babboo has kept the birds happy with the premium sunflower hearts again, after they rejected the other seed he bought. The suet cake is being consumed at a rapid rate and we have to put out new ones regularly, so much so that I ran out of ingredients to make ...

This time of year I begin to think about the garden. Recognizing my inability to kneel on concrete anymore, I did not start seeds in the basement this month. I’ll just buy some plants after our final frost date if I want to do tomatoes in the brick planter again. My luck with squash has been dismal, so I think I’ll just go to my favorite local farmer’s market produce stand for those. Last fall, I ordered some bleeding hearts and a few other plants online with plan to convert the front flower bed into all perennials ...

My mind has been on my garden for a few days now, as I observe some green shoots coming to life again. The little patch of daffodils is coming up, with buds already showing. This patch is a mixture of all yellow daffodils and some yellow and white ones. They usually bloom in late February, so they are right on time this year.

I’m watching the bird feeders closely now too, and caught a photo of a pair of downy woodpeckers. The female is on the feeder above, with the male on the suet cake. One way to distinguish ...

My Sweet Babboo managed to get the pole for the bird feeder straightened, but we didn’t want to put the feeder back on it yet. Still, he wanted the birds to have some food available, so he rigged up a feeder to hang high off the ground from a tree limb. The birds found that quickly, and this titmouse grabbed a seed to eat while sitting on a limb. They like to hold a seed between their toes and peck at it.

Jasper came by for a sandwich, and was happy with the service at this bistro. He grabbed ...

It is the season now for our car clubs to ramp up, so we have been busy with several events. Last weekend was an annual fundraiser show called Luft Wasser, which is German for Air Water, referring to the two methods of cooling for engines. We were on the crew, and arrived early Saturday morning to work the main gate where cars were entering. Our car was selected as part of a special display of the Colors of Porsche exhibit at one end of the show. Ours is a dark warm grey called Agate Grey. On the left is a ...

It has been a warmer than usual winter so far, with a few cold days here and there. We usually have two snows in a winter, but there hasn’t been a single day of snow this year so far. It makes me concerned that we will get a late freeze that will damage the local apple crop. Anyway, the warming afternoons have woken up some bulbs. I first noticed these coming up around the dormant lemon tree that is in a pot. The pot was in the Carolina room to protect it from freezing. I actually don’t remember ...

I am thinking about my garden again, and my plants in the Carolina room are doing well. I cut off the amaryllis leaves a few weeks ago and put it out in the cold. I brought it inside last week, hoping for another bloom this year. It didn’t bloom last year, and if it doesn’t grow this year, it may be done. It bloomed for seven years in a row, so I do think I got good value from it.

The orchid is teasing me again. It has put out several air roots, and recently looks like it ...

Small projects were the focus over the past couple of weeks as I haven’t had any big blocks of time available to get into the basement sewing and crafting room. What time I have had was devoted to getting things ready for the quilt show, and that included deciding what I was willing to sell, then deciding on how much to ask. Each item now has one of my cards with a price on it, hanging from a green cord. All total, I’ll have 18 quilts, placemat sets and table runners for sale.

Here and there, I sat ...

This past week the Tulip Festival in downtown Hendersonville began. Every one of the many brick planters are filled with early blooming tulips in all sorts of colors. The tulips last quite a while, and are inter-planted with smaller flowers to fill in the beds.

Small violets and little marigold-like flowers bloom between velvet red tulips.

From one end of Main street to the other, luscious color! Sorry about the garden hose in this shot, I was distracted by the lovely yellow tulips with deep pink violas and didn’t notice it.

Of course, a few of these got hidden ...

It is going to be busy, busy for several more weeks, so it is important to take a moment to breathe, and find some calm and peace. For me, the early morning when the dawn light softly lights the fog across the valley, settling in the layers between the hills is quiet time. Birdsong delights my ears as the light increases.

Before the last freeze, the double daffodils bloomed in their bed.

These are just so gorgeous, with apricot ruffles between white petals.

Stunning, a true gift in the garden.

Visiting this week, a small flock of wild turkeys came ...

Seems like the number of activities has increased exponentially lately. Maybe it is just the contrast from the past year of staying home. We are playing pickleball a couple of times a week now, and doing more with friends as well. Two trips to Atlanta to deal with issues with my mother in law’s home didn’t help. We also made a quick trip to Virginia with one of our car clubs, and I’ll have a post on that for you soon. It was a fun time of dodging raindrops while we motored along past pastoral scenes of ...

While we were gone away this Moth Orchid which has lived as a foliage-only plant in our bathroom for the past few years sent up a flower stalk! I was shocked and amazed. Maybe we need to leave home more often! I don't do anything special except water it every week; once a month I sprinkle a few crystals of orchid food into the watering solution but that's it. I had NO  very little hope of it ever

While we were gone away this Moth Orchid which has lived as a foliage-only plant in our bathroom for the past few years sent up a flower stalk! I was shocked and amazed. Maybe we need to leave home more often! I don't do anything special except water it every week; once a month I sprinkle a few crystals of orchid food into the watering solution but that's it. I had NO  very little hope of it ever